Column

Think about it. The guy showed he at least had some idea of what Kentucky basketball was about the day he was introduced as Wildcat coach three years ago. Less than 30 seconds into that press conference, he mentioned Bill Keightley.

Later that day, he talked about imitating Kyle Macy and Joe B. Hall and just about every other Big Blue big name. '

Now that you have had the chance to settle down, throw a brick or two at your TV over Kentucky’s four-seed, and Louisville’s four-seed for that matter, it’s time to get your bracket out, fill it out and then utter, “My bracket is already shot” before Thursday’s games are over.

Over the years I have won a few of these babies and I have thrown mine out after the first weekend, too. There are some trends I have noticed, so here is The Herndon Official List of Do’s and Don’ts in filling your bracket.

It is not exactly the same road Dick Vitale or Bill Raftery took to basketball stardom, but Steve Swank is doing just fine in Internet radio.

A long-time coach, Swank took over the play-by-play duties for Bearcat and Lady Bearcat basketballjust before the current season started. A novice in his first gig behind the microphone, Swank proved to be a quick learner and got started when the Bearcats hosted Collins on Jan. 7.

Of course that depends on how long a team will be playing when everything gets down to the nitty-gritty in tournament time and the pretenders are separated from the contenders. Still, it has been a year that has gone by too fast.

It seems like just a few days ago that I got an e-mail discussing girls' basketball in which the writer said, “I bet you are having a good time watching that Anderson girls' team, haven't you?”

It cold have been Anita Waldridge, the first great girls' basketball player at Western High School, thinking of the proud little school located about 15 miles west of Lawrenceburg. From 1975-77, Waldridge was an honorable mention all-state selection three times. Her team was one of the better ones in the Eighth Region.

But she never played beyond the district tournament. “Anderson was so good,” she remembered.

As I sat in the KFC Yum! Center Sunday night, I was in awe of my surroundings.

And I am not talking about all the bells and whistles of Louisville’s downtown arena. It’s nice, no question, and has every toy an arena could want and then some. But, to someone who would be as happy in a Ford Escort as a Mercedes, it was far from the main story of the evening.

Instead, there were chuckles. There were smiling children. And there were adults laughing uncontrollably at Big Easy Lofton, Bull Bullard and Firefly Fisher.

As we concluded an interview in the locker room at Lexington’s Sayre High School, Glen Drury turned the tables on the only local media member around.

“Does it surprise you that we are .500 right now?” Drury asked.
“Nope,” I replied. “Not at all.”

Drury has won over 400 games and has seen a ton of the unexpected on the basketball court, but he seemed genuinely surprised that one who has seen probably more games he has coached, outside of his family and trusted friends Jimmy Young and Wayne Wilder, would make that statement.